Happy Holidays 2009. Have a great 2010!

Eight degrees, wind 30 mph, but on the money.

We got a new guy Jeremy and his crew working on the Shack. On days when most crews would bang in, he arrived before daylight to hustle and move and get us closed in. We are framing in the walls 20" OC with 2x8" commons. Shortly she'll be wrapped, and the window order is going in today. Two days ago when this was taken it was 8 degrees and wind whipping at 30-40 mph., so wind chills well below zero. It's a good thing I'm on site because every other hour there is a good Q that arises that I have to take a reading on and give an answer to before proceeding.

It's amazing what some new blood can do for your attitude and for your project. I was getting tired of looking at an ark on stilts.

It's October.

October is here. 55 degrees in the workshop. The old furnace bit the dust on August 22nd.

The new furnace arrived yesterday. Ten thousand dollars. And the accessories an additional 2400 dollars. (The piping alone was nearly $1800 for 85 feet of it.) Add $231 for the concrete pad I poured Monday, which my wife wanted to inscribe "patient woman" into.

The guy who delivered the furnace asked me if I was restoring an old barn. I guess that is a compliment.

Finished staining the soffits and fascia and now to install gutters before breaking down the catwalk staging for the winter. Would like to do it today but am going to a luncheon in my honor later. It will have to wait, like everything else. My help is long gone and we are about out of money.

At least Mary has a good place to ride her bike, which she mastered last weekend. That's what is really important.

Roof top views, finally.

For the last year Mike has been working for me, first on the horse barn and now on the addition, framing it. I should have renamed this blog but I'll be at it solo again soon enough.

He rolled his truck a few weeks ago but emerged from the wreckage unscathed. He'll be going on the road in a week or two and I will miss him, though he will be making real money.

We have the roof on the main structure as you can see and are now tying it into the house. I am hoping that he can get the kitchen roof on before he leaves. I am working on framing up a new fixed window for over the kitchen.

What have I learned? You have to have some steady help if you also have a family and a full time job commitment.

Stilll framing.

Another storm just dumped seven inches of snow on the frame. Still no roof but as Mike says, we are gaining on it.

Mike is back with friend Jeff who is a nice guy and pretty enthusiastic about working on a different type of structure. With two sets of hands things seem to be moving. Mike says he is starting another job soon, but will hang around to get me a roof and hopefully tied into the original house.
Simplifying my window order to put out to bid again.

What did I learn today? Thanks to the window estimate, I'll be making my own fixed windows and will save a couple grand at least.